Three Kingdoms: Ancestors of the Han Dynasty

Chapter 763
In 243 A.D., the fourth year of Wei Zhengshi, and the 21st year of Han Jianxing.

Cao Shuang, the great general of the Cao Wei Dynasty, went to the table to let the late Cao Zhen, Cao Xiu, Xia Houshang, Chen Qun, Zhong Yao, Zhang He, Xu Huang, Li Dian... Pang De, Dian Wei and other [-] ministers of civil and military affairs accompany the temple of Taizu. With the ethos of rectifying the country, pursue the achievements of the past.

At the same time, Cao Shuang said that the Great Wei and the Han thieves were incompatible. After several years of recuperation, the Great Wei soldiers and horses are strong and the food and grass are sufficient. Please ask the Shu thieves to restore the old land.

Wei Emperor Cao Fang agreed, and ordered Cao Shuang to lead dozens of generals including Xia Houxuan, the general who conquered the west, Wang Ling, the general who conquered the east, Guo Huai, the governor of Sizhou, Tian Yu, the governor of Yuzhou, Linghu Yu, the governor of Yanzhou, and Sima Zhao, the general who conquered Shu. Gather 15 elites from the Chinese army and the Quartet to conquer Jingzhou.

In order to achieve the unexpected effect, Cao Shuang followed Xia Houxuan's strategy and pretended to attack Wu, so that the Han soldiers would slack off, and the large army gathered in Shouchun.

Sun Quan, king of Wu of the Han Dynasty, was terrified when he heard the words. He cut off the Dongxing embankment to flood the river, and thought that the surrounding area of ​​Chaohu Lake would be the country.And sent envoys to ask for help from the big man, asking for support of soldiers and horses.

Liu Chan ordered Deng Zhi, the governor of Nanjun County, to lead [-] troops to increase troops in Jiangxia, and to garrison Xiakou with Chen Dao's troops, so as to look eastward.

That's all, Cao Shuang led the Chinese army's elite tens of thousands of people, boarded a ship from Yanjin, crossed the chasm, crossed Guandu and went south, and prepared troops to Xiangxian County, Chen County, where they joined Xiahouxuan, Linghuyu and others who had already gathered here.

Cao Shuang's marching direction was similar to that when Yuan Shao went south from Jizhou to Yuzhou. Once he entered Guandu, he could go downstream to Honggou.Moreover, Honggou is close to rivers such as Weishui, Rushui, and Yingshui. It connects Gong and Luo in the north and Huaisi in the south, so the transportation is extremely convenient.

And Xia Houxuan's strategy of attacking the west is based on the water conservancy and transportation network built with the divide as the center. Through the waterway, soldiers from the Central Plains can go down by boat and directly reach the Jianghuai River.Conversely, Jianghuai soldiers can go up to the Central Plains by boat.The speed of troop deployment is overwhelming.

Xiang County, Wei Jun Zhongjun big account.

With his saber in hand, Cao Shuang walked into the camp majestically, followed by Deng Yang.In the camp, Xiahou Xuanzheng and Li Sheng were discussing the route of dispatching troops facing the map.Seeing Cao Shuang enter the account, the two saluted Cao Shuang and said hello.

Cao Shuang didn't put on airs, and said gently: "The war is about to start, and Lao Taichu is planning it."

"Don't dare, the general has worked so hard." Xia Houxuan replied.

Cao Shuang walked up to the map and asked, "When Shuang first came here, he didn't know the situation of the enemy and our army well, so he didn't know what the situation is now?"

Prior to this, in order not to cause a big shock, Xia Houxuan first arrived in Luoyang, and then mobilized troops from Si and Yuzhou in the name of General Zhengxi, and then mobilized troops from Yangzhou and Yanzhou in the name of General Cao Shuang.Most of the scheduling in the past few months was planned by Xia Houxuan, Li Sheng, Guo Huai and others.

Xia Houxuan pointed to the place marked with a vermilion pen on the map, and said: "Today counting the 15 army commanded by the general, the [-] army has been deployed in Qisi County of Runan County and Xiang County of Chen County according to the prior plan. And Yingchuan and Xudu three places."

"Tian Yu, the governor of Yuzhou, led [-] soldiers to garrison Qisi County. According to our arrangement, when the military order was issued, Tian Yu marched against the Ru River to Ancheng, and attacked Biyang to the west; while Guo Huai commanded the soldiers of Sizhou, thinking it was a fake , led [-] troops, and went south from Xuchang to attack Duyang in the south." Xia Houxuan further introduced.

Although Sizhou had many soldiers and horses, Guo Huai left most of them to defend Hongnong and prevent the Shu Han from taking advantage of the opportunity to harass them.

"And our army set out from Xiangxian County, went up against the Yingshui River, reached the Pingyu area, attacked Wuyin in the west, and had 15 soldiers; Wang Ling, the general who conquered the East, marched from Shouchun, marched westward against the Huai River, and passed Yiyang. Attack the Ping family in the west, and command [-] troops. Today, there are a total of [-] troops, and the troops are divided into four groups."

Although Jingzhou is located in the middle of the Nanyang Basin, unlike the Hanzhong and Guanzhong Basins, it is not blocked by large mountains, but is composed of intermittent hills, leaving large and small tunnels in the middle.Therefore, it is more difficult to defend than the Hanzhong Basin.This is why the capital has rarely been set in Nanyang throughout the dynasties.

On the entrance and exit channels between Jingzhou and Cao Wei, from top to bottom are Duyang, Wuyin, Biyang, and Pingshi respectively. Among them, Duyang guards Fangcheng Xia Road, which is the avenue directly going south from Luoyang; Wuyin (now Biyang) The Zhongyin Mountain Road guarded by Yangyangchu Town) is the westward avenue of Runan; Bi (Bi) Yang sticks to the Bishui Waterway, which can lead directly to Xinye; Ping's sticks to the Tongbai Mountain Road, which is the source of the Huai River.

It can be said that these four cities are the core cities for Jingzhou to resist the attack of Cao Wei. If one of the cities is destroyed, the whole Jingzhou will be in danger, and the remaining three cities will basically be destroyed without attack.At the beginning, Cao Cao failed to attack Zhang Xiu several times, but he did not give up the two cities of Duyang and Wuyin. Among them, Li Tong insisted on defending Wuyin City and took over Cao Cao who was defeated in Wancheng.

As he said that, Xia Houxuan bowed his hands towards Cao Shuang in high spirits, and said: "General, the thief general Wang Ping has only 15 soldiers, and our army has [-] soldiers, and the soldiers are divided into four groups. If he wants to defend him, he must guard the cities. , this force is empty. As we expected, Wang Ping may retreat to Wancheng, waiting for reinforcements to arrive."

"Once Wang Ping retreated to Wancheng, Wang Ling and Tian Yu joined forces to resist the enemy in Xiangzhou, and then sent envoys to Dongwu to lobby Sun Quan, lure him to send troops, and ordered the restoration of the old land. And most of my ministers drove straight into Jingzhou , then the counties and counties of Jingzhou should be invincible, sacrifice the city and surrender, so why worry about the restoration of the land!"

Listening to Xia Houxuan's narration, Cao Shuang couldn't help feeling proud.In his perception, 15 against [-], this kind of game basically crushes the game.The current situation is different from the situation when Man Chong attacked Jingzhou. One hundred thousand troops entered from Fangcheng Xiadao, and were delayed by the triple defense line set up by the Han army.

Although Manchong finally attacked near Wancheng, the Han army had already marched north from Xiangzhou to support at that time, which was of no avail.In the current situation, he has more troops under his command than Man Chong, and the troops are divided into four groups, which disperses the troops of the Han army to defend the city and reduces the difficulty of breaking the city.He also avoided Duyang City, which was guarded by Wei Hu, and played a strategy of attacking from the east to attack the west. Taking advantage of the unpreparedness of the Shu thieves, he raised a large army to attack it.

Under such circumstances, as long as Wang Ping's brain circuit is normal, he will retreat and stick to Wancheng, waiting for rescue.You can also take advantage of the situation to conquer many cities, capture Xiangzhou in the south, take Wuguan in the north, solidify Nanxiang in the west, swallow the cities of Jingzhou, and make great achievements.

If you don't retreat, this also reduces the difficulty of attacking Jingzhou. Any one of the four armies breaks through the city, they can drive straight in and attack the empty hinterland of Jingzhou.The remaining three cities naturally lost the meaning of holding on.

Therefore, Cao Shuang couldn't help but rejoice, and said in a deep voice: "The soldiers are divided into four groups, and there are more than a hundred thousand people. The thieves are only [-], and they are unprepared. body."

"It's not the merit of Xuan alone, but also the civil and military achievements of Li Changshi, Deng Shangshu, etc." Xia Houxuan said modestly.

"They are all confidantes, there is no need to be polite." Cao Shuang waved his hand, sat on the couch, and asked, "Taichu said that Sun Quan would send troops to attack the soldiers of Xiangzhou, but now he surrenders the western bandits, Qi An dares to send troops, and we The army also threatened to go south to attack it, so Sun Quanan would agree?"

Xia Houxuan pondered for a while, and replied: "Although Sun Quan surrendered to the western thieves, it was only because the army was defeated and the country was in danger of subjugation, so he had no choice but to surrender. If there is a good opportunity now, with Sun Quan's character, it is possible to raise troops to attack the thieves. But this time In order for Sun Quan to raise an army, we need our army to win battles in Jingzhou before the Wu people dare to march into Xiangzhou."

Xia Houxuan's judgment on Sun Quan was quite accurate. Although he surrendered to the big man, he was full of hatred for the big man in his heart, but out of fear, Sun Quan didn't dare to disobey him.Now that Cao Wei wants to lure Sun Quan into the game, he still has to fight the iron himself, win the Jingzhou battlefield, and tell Wu that the Shu Han will lose in this battle, so that Sun Quan can enter the game with peace of mind.

After all, Wu Guo was really scared by the big man, and the big man owned Xiakou, he could tighten the chain at any time, and even destroy the country in one battle. In this case, how dare Sun Quan enter the game easily and seek death.Otherwise, after the big man finished cleaning up the big Wei, he would destroy Soochow with his backhand.

"According to Taichu's words, would Sun Quan take the opportunity to go north and attack Yangzhou in order to relieve the plight of the western thieves?" Cao Shuang asked doubtfully.

"Absolutely not!" Xia Houxuan resolutely denied, and said: "The fate of the Wu State is in the hands of the Western Bandit. If the Western Bandit is defeated, the State of Wu has the opportunity to restore the land and restore the power of one-third of the world. However, if our army is defeated, What good is it for the state of Wu? Besides, the state of Wu is exhausted, and it dares to invade Hefei in the north.”

"In that case, let's discuss the matter of Sun Quan later." Cao Shuang nodded thoughtfully, and ordered, "In three days, order all the troops to attack Shu and attack Jingzhou."

"promise!"

(End of this chapter)